Whisper of the Silencee

10

"Seriously?!" Danise choked on his tea. Eyes sore in pain, coughing out the lump in his throat. "...Y-you.. you.." Pounding on his chest, his croaked voice almost couldn't be heard. "You're going on a vacation with Stella..?"

"Yeah, we are planning to leave right after this," Kyle said simply, sipping in the warm charmoline tea in his hand. "Right, Stella?"

She nodded, putting on the best act that she can to adapt to Clover's presence as Kyle's P.A. "Yap. It's been a while since we last met. So yeah, a little bit of time off is necessary sometimes." Stella stole a quick look at Clover to see her reaction without anyone realizing.

But Clover showed nothing, did nothing. Only busying cooling down her drink by blowing on it carefully.

"How thoughtful of you, Kyle. Going on a vacation without inviting me." Danise squinted, his eyes were still red and teary after getting choked up. "So this is how you treat a friend that is 24/7 for you."

"Heyyyyy! I did call you yesterday to ask you about this.. and also about Clover! In fact I called you again this morning!" He snapped. "But you didn't pick up any of them."

Taken aback by his friend's sudden 'phone confessions', guiltiness out of nowhere slid into Danise. "...Really?" He took out his phone from his pocket, and embarrassment slapped hard on his face when he noticed that it had been switched off. "Oppsie.. my bad."

Kyle waved it off. "Wanna join?" He asked, with a wink. "Guilin."

A winning smile curled on Danise's face. "Can I bring her along?" He asked, head turning to Clover's direction.

Clover flinched, flashing him an -are-you-kidding-me- look.

"What?!" Stella freaked and mouthed silently.

"She's my P.A. Of course she's following me." Kyle clicked his tongue. "Stella, bring along your new manager! Let's have fun together!"

Kenny, who has been sitting silently on the double-seat Tuxedo coach, looked up from the table and asked, "...Really?.. Can..Can I..too?" He shot a questionable look at Stella.

"Well.. if Kyle say so..." Forcing her cheeks muscles to form a convincing smile, "Why not?" she said behind her gritted teeth.

"Alright! What are we waiting for?" Danise rose from the couch excitedly, "Let's~~~go!"

Kyle wanted to drive his car since Brandon was not back from his tasks yet. However, Danise offered Clover and Kyle a ride to Guilin. Checking the distance from Guangzhou to Guilin through his phone, he had a mini heart attack. 472.8 km roughly.

That was a long one.

"See ya in another 5 hours time, Stella." Kyle said, while stepping into Danise's car after Clover.

It was supposed to be you and me in a car, Kyle Lee.

Taking a deep breath, "See ya," Stella responded and reached for her car.

Together with Kenny. It was still K, but not the K that she desired to be with.

Danise pressed the oil pedal once he was done setting up the navigation on his Baidu Map. Nobody sat at the front seat. Both Kyle and Clover were at the back, each taking the corner seats with their heads turned to the nearest window. The strong smell of the Ambi Purr was blinded off by the smell of awkwardness that was evolving in the Audi. Kyle's shoulders could be seen moving uncomfortably, thanks to his over breathing breaths. And Clover was using her thumb, playing with the gaps between the other fingers. Though it seemed like the incident that happened yesterday was settled, there was still a barrier. Clover did embarrass Kyle. And Brandon did slap Clover, publicly.

These were facts that nobody can change.

"You guys are making me so stress." Danise finally spoke out as he reached a traffic light, hand running over his neck to ease the ache. "What's wrong?"

Nobody replied in the beginning.

"Hello!!" He moved his butt up and down on the seat slightly, shaking the immobile car.

"Oh my gosh, Danise. Focus please!" Kyle said, sitting up to be closer with the driver. "It's green already!"

"Then speak!" He said annoyingly, trying to get some human noises generated.

Millions of thoughts were running across Clover's mind. And surprisingly they were all about Kyle. She never would have thought that this cheerful celebrity that had saved her from becoming a s*x slave had endured so much for him to materialize this dream of his. Nobody would have known if they were to judge by the look on Kyle's modellic face. He was very good at hiding away his pain and tears. Very good at wearing an invisible mask. Staring at the mysterious back of him, her heart began to twist once more. How much more are you hiding, Kyle? Too engrossed with her emotions, she stretched out her hand, attempting to gently pat on him. Don't keep them to yourself.

"Hmm?" Kyle turned when he felt a sudden warmth on his back.

Clover gasped, pulling back her hand that she had no idea when it reached Kyle. "Oh.. hahhaha. Nothing."

"Clover!" Danise said suddenly, breaking the existing weird scenario.

"Yeah?"

"Guess you should reveal your story a lil' bit to us."

"Me?"

Nodding his head in wonderment, "Yes yes! You should, Clover. There's barely anything I know about you other than your name." Kyle said excitedly, eyes blinking with hope.

Staring at the two of them, Clover let out a short chuckle with mixture of pain at the edge of her voice. "You know what was I, Kyle," she said bluntly.

Looking away from her, "...Well..." he stammered.

"I was a nobody. Just a tool sold out to get money."

"What about your parents? Where is your hometown? What happened that made you like this? Your siblings? How was your life before this?" Kyle poured out his questions like a shooting gun, that he had been waiting to ask.

Clover parted her mouth, but shut it shortly after. The answers to those questions were so pathetic that even she felt ashamed at herself. Her lips were quivering, nose was getting wet and tears were emerging. Kyle was facing her, waiting patiently for her to tell him about her life story. Danise, shifting his focus to Clover, he slowed down the pace of his car, allowing the cars behind cut him one after another. He kept looking at the rear mirror with his hand steering, waiting to hear whatever that she was ready to say.

"I...I-"

Clearing her throat, she tried once more.

"I.. I--"

Her voice was cracking.

"It's okay." Kyle wrapped her palm with his, "Take your time," he said.

"Yeah. Don't worry. We have five hours to listen to you," Danise joked.

Clover puked out a soft giggle, "Thanks, Danise."

And she began. "My family was once the most perfect family that I could ask for. With my handsome dad, gorgeous mom and me as the only child. My dad was a CEO of a big corporation and my mom was the assistant CEO. They founded the company together. Everything was so perfect back then. Though we had a house of our own, we normally lived inside a caravan, driving around to explore the world."

"What happened after that?" Kyle asked in a careful tone.

Sucking in a deep breath, she blinked off the liquid in her eyes and said, "Betrayal. Jealousy."

"To conclude, it was my fault. I was too naive. I thought she approached me with a sincere heart to be my elder sister. But I was wrong. At that time I was only ten. I knew nothing about my parents' company. I only did what she told me to. In the end, this led me to expose the secrets of the company that were never meant to be exposed. When my parents found out about it, they were very angry."

"Who's she?" Danise interrupted.

"An evil, darkened heart, selfish, merciless, materialistic creature that claimed to be a human." Clover said, with her fists clenching in anger.

"Though my parents were angry, they chose to tolerate with my stupidity. They didn't scold me but lectured me about the truth of the dark and cruel reality world out there. But... " Her voice turning thick with tears, "But...luck nor justice were ever on their sides. Those bribed lawsuits, bribed evidences, bribed truths, stole away the company that my parents built with their sweats and bloods."

Running a finger below her eye to wipe away the secretion that was about to fall, ".... and finally.. depression took their lives away from me.."

"But.. what did that got to do with you being a se---.." Kyle trailed off instantly, hand on his lips, thinking if he had overstepped his boundaries.

"s*x slave," Clover finished his sentence. " We were announced to be broke, Kyle. Those so-called relatives of mine were truly gold diggers. They were only after our money. When I was sent to my aunt's house to be taken care of, I thought I was lucky enough to still have a house to stay. But I was wrong. Very wrong. They had put me on sale on a illegal website with all my details being displayed. And they took me in just to make sure that they have somebody to give when the order comes."

Danise furrowed his brows, almost accidentally pressed the honk button, "Oh.My.God. What a mother f*****!"

Clover looked at him through the rear mirror and smiled piteously. That somehow concluded her life story. One that she wouldn't be proud to speak about except for the beginning. Her hand felt stuffy and sweaty after clenching for too long. Just as she wanted to elongate her fingers, she realized that Kyle's hand was still on top of hers.

Warm and protective.

Holding her gaze in his, "Thank you," he breathed.

She smiled with a yawn followed, "Thank you, Kyle."

Kyle pushed her head tenderly on the headrest. "Sleep now, little one. It's gonna be a long journey," he whispered.

"Mmm..." Clover murmured under her breath.

Her eyelids were getting heavy and keeping them open were no longer under her commands. And it didn't take long for her to fall into the 'rest' mode. But she couldn't get a proper sleep thanks to the car moving in all sorts of directions. When it turned to the right, Clover's head slipped off the headrest to the right. When it turned to the left, Clover slipped to the left. And when the car braked, Clover's entire head popped in front. Seeing her dozing so uncomfortably, the gentleness in Kyle itched once more. Moving purposely to the middle seat while sneaking a peep at Danise, he cupped Clover's face and softly placed it on his shoulder for her to lean on.

"At least this is something that I can do for you," he murmured, allowing sleep to kick in when he made sure that Clover was engaged in her deep sleep.

***

Guilin, a very famous tourist spot in China. It has known for possessing one of the most beautiful landscapes that one can ever imagined. A mini fairyland alive on Earth, some people described it that way. Those green huge mountains, natural streaming water, fresh and relaxing atmosphere, are just paradises. Along the streets in the town , many people were walking with an umbrella in their hands, blocking the rays from the Sun. This place was so attractive that it was not shocking to see the presence of a high number of foreigners, mingling themselves among the locals, trying out the different snacks. Water chestnut cakes, Guilin water glutinous rice cake and of course, one can never missed - Guilin Field Snail!

Food trucks everywhere, noises in the air.

The aromas of the mouth-watering temptations diffused into Danise's car that was passing by that area. Danise drooled, watching those items entering into the mouths of other people. The car was barely moving as the force on the oil pedal decreased gradually.

Stopping eventually in front of a food wagon , Danise put on his sunglasses and rolled down his window, "Hello, can I have ¥50 of those fried snails?", he asked politely, extending his hand to give him the money.

"Sure, just a moment."

Sounds from the outside woke Clover up. Her face was facing the bright rays. Sticking her palm to her forehead, she drew in her brows as the heat was biting her.

"Danise.. where are we?"

"Oh, Clover you are up," he said, taking in the packet of the paid item. "We are already in the town of Guilin," he stretched his hand far enough to reach the back to offer Clover the snails.

Clover made a disgusted face. "What's this?"

"What's with that expression?" Danise glared at her. "They are fried snails! Very tasty!" he said, grabbing a few and shoved them in his mouth.

"..SNAILS?!"

He tsked at her before turning to the front.

Woken by Clover's loud screech, "..hmm...we are here...?" Kyle said, with his eyes only 1mm opened.

"A while more. Getting to the hotel for us to check in." Offering the packet to the back once again, "Kyle, you want?" he asked.

Kyle tipped his head to look at it, "Snails?"

"Yeah, try some. It's so good!"

Just when Kyle sunk his hand into the bottom of the packet, Clover flashed him a weird look.

"...Wanna try?"He asked, pointing one to her.

"Oh my God, Kyle," she shrunk at the gross sight of it, with the sauce leaking off the shell. "Get that thing away from me."

"Don't waste it on her Kyle. She knows nothing about this treasure." Danise muttered, while putting another in his mouth, "By the way, what's the name of the hotel again..?"

"Starry Land." Kyle said, "A very.. spectacular place."

Starry Land. A seven-star hotel that not everyone has the chance to stay. Being starred various times as one of the filming sites in movies and dramas, Starry Land has became the leading hotel across the globe. Beautiful and outstanding design. Rumours had it that the founder of this accommodation had invested millions of money including all his properties into this project. He even purposely flew to the United States to look for the most talented and professional architect to craft a design for his dream hotel. He didn't know what would be the results. He might lose.

But he might win as well.

And yes, he made it.

Look at how bright Starry Land was shining.

Danise headed straight to the basement parking without wasting the time circling around the open area to look for empty spots. Except Clover, they were public figures, and basement obviously secured a better privacy. Clover's eyes were glimmering from the moment they entered the main entrance of the hotel and they were still glimmering in the basement. Her breaths were heavy, captivated by the entire visual of the hotel that she would be staying. If there were rooms in the basement, she would have questioned if this was a basement or another.. hotel.

With the flashing, healing colours of the string lights hung on the bricked walls, the underground room was ignited. The spaces between parked cars, was a small garden present, with 3D images of butterflies and birds around the flowers, along with their natural noises. Pictures of night skies were painted on the ceilings, with blinking stars, making the skies seemed real and alive. Within them, there were bright lines crossing the sky so fast that it was hard to be noticed in a glance. Miracle was staring at them, and she dropped her jaw the moment she realized that they were..

Shooting stars.

It felt so magical.

And it was just a basement.

"I can..just sleep here.." Clover said, mesmerized by how creative human's brain could get.

"Inside is even more enchanted," Danise laughed at her stunned face, "Clover."

"Let's go." Kyle said, shutting the door once Clover stepped out.

Even the ground was beyond perfection. No rubbish, no scars no scratches. How can a cellar be so wonderful? Clover thought. The illustrated footsteps were drawn artistically, guiding us to the lift. Clover messed with them by jumping on one after another, making her almost bumped into the glass door.

Danise put his hand on the right spot just a second before she kissed the door, "Look in front, smart." he nagged.

Clover snarled at him annoyingly but it only lasted for a while. She didn't want her mood to be ruined when there was such enchantment present around her.

"I'll show you something more," Kyle whispered, pressing the number 21 on the fancy lift buttons after the G button. "You help us check in at the lobby first, Danise."

Danise grinned mischievously. "Woooo~~"

"Zip it. Don't make things awkward." Kyle said, pushing him out of the lift once G displayed on the screen. It was just a floor away from where their car was parked anyway.

Clover waited excitedly for the number 21 to appear on the screen. Her feet was jogging on the same spot and joy was all over her face. Kyle chuckled softly to himself as he watched this innocent side of hers. She looked just like a small little girl, that happiness had found its way to her.

And when the lift door separated, the view flashed in her eyes shut her up momentarily, leaving her speechless. Her legs were trembling, unable to step out.

"....Oh..my..god.." Clover breathed out silently.